Network 10 and Paramount+ commentator Andy Harper gives his thoughts on Sydney FC’s new signing Douglas Costa – and the record that points to him succeeding in the A-Leagues.
On Monday morning, Isuzu UTE A-League fans woke to the news of Douglas Costa’s arrival at Sydney FC.
The 31-cap Brazil international has put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the Sky Blues in one of the most high-profile transfers in the competition’s history; if you were one of those onlookers pondering how the club had pulled off the capture of a former Bayern Munich and Juventus star, it’s likely your reaction was a mixed bag of excitement, disbelief, hope and scepticism.
It’s only natural to experience contradicting emotions when a genuine marquee lands in the A-Leagues, and it’s exactly how Australian football great Andy Harper digested the news when the Sky Blues revealed their prized new recruit to the world.
“My first reaction was disbelief, because I think the expectations of fans have been significantly weaned off this type of calibre of signing,” Harper told aleagues.com.au.
“The first reaction is disbelief, and that’s very quickly replaced by huge excitement, for the fans of the game, for the fans of Sydney. It’s a massive coup for the league. Massive.
“If my teenage son and his mates are any indication, this news has stopped them in their tracks completely. He’s always asking: ‘Who is being signed this year? What players are they getting?’ This is the business of football.
“We can call them marquee players, but we have to, at every point, be trying to recruit the very best players we can, home or abroad.
“You can call them whatever you like, but we need to be getting the very best players we can. Sydney have seen it within their operation at the moment to target this guy, and bring him to Australia. There’s no reason to think it’s not going to work, and if it does – fantastic.”
“A lot is going to be riding on this,” Harper added. “There’s a lot of pressure on Costa, and I’ve got no doubt he’s up to it.
“The fortunes, the trajectory, the discussions around the vibe and perception of the league can turn very quickly in a positive way. Bold moves like this, when they work, those decisions are replicated around the league by the clubs with the means.
“That is how fortunes can change very, very quickly – which is not to suggest there aren’t a lot of reasons to be excited about supporting all our teams, and looking forward to seeing youngsters come through and teams fight for supremacy, that remains true for the league and with every league.
“But these players are one recruiting decision away, if the member clubs have the boldness to have a go at it. Fortunes can change very positively and quickly as a result of that.”
Costa boasts an illustrious football CV.
The 33-year-old has won 24 trophies in his club career, including a FIFA Club World Cup with Bayern Munich, and three league titles in both Italy and Germany.
His career began in Brazil with Grêmio in 2008 before a move to Shakhtar Donetsk with whom the winger won five Ukrainian Premier League titles. Bayern bought Costa for AU$50 million from Shakhtar in 2015, and three years later sold the winger to Juventus for $AU76m. Throughout his career to date, Costa has generated almost $AU140m in transfer fees.
While accumulating 76 UEFA Champions League appearances and trophies galore in Europe, Costa amassed 31 caps for Brazil and represented The Seleção at the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
Costa has achieved great things in the game – and importantly for Sydney FC, not long ago. But after challenging stints at LA Galaxy and Brazilian club Fluminense, the Brazilian’s A-Leagues arrival comes with a challenge to find his best form once again.
The 33-year-old must deliver on the promise of reputation if he is to live up to the steep standards to which A-Leagues marquees are held; some have risen to those standards, and others have failed.
“Recruiting any player is a risk, whatever their background, because you just never know, ultimately, how someone’s going to fit into what a football team is trying to do,” Harper said.
“So there’s always a risk.
“He’s had a reasonably peripatetic career, and some people might look at that as ammunition for the risk column. Not to deny there’s risk in all these things, but I see it as a guy who is still at potentially the peak of his powers, 33 turning 34, he’s still got a lot of great football left.
“Douglas Costa is in that very special group of the Brazilian dribbler. He’s part of that top group, going back generations. The apex of that particular discussion is Garrincha, but you watch this guy’s footage and there’s a lot of Garrincha, the ‘little bird’, in this guy.
“If he can bring any sort of that to the A-League, the whole competition lifts. And let’s hope then, that other clubs will take the lead of Sydney.
“He has the capacity to take your breath away. And we’ve had that at various times with different types of players throughout the history of top-flight football in this country, whether the NSL or A-League. He has that capacity.”
Fortunately for Costa, he’s landed at a club led by Ufuk Talay, Sydney’s head coach who, over the past five years, has consistently produced a tune out of big-name overseas imports.
Talay was head coach of Wellington Phoenix before his time at the Sky Blues and during his stint in New Zealand, signed the likes of Oskar Zawada, David Ball, Scott Wootton and Bozhidar Kraev, players who delivered on reputation under Talay’s watch.
Former Sydney head coach Steve Corica oversaw the Sydney incomings ahead of season 2023-24 but after taking over from Corica at the Sky Blues three rounds into the season, Talay continued to get the best out of the likes of star Englishman Joe Lolley and Slovakian winger Robert Mak.
But Talay has the keys in his first off-season in charge of the Sky Blues, and Costa’s acquisition is far and away the most ambitious acquisition of his managerial career to date.
“The clubs around the league and the coaches around the league have gotten infinitely better as time has gone on in recruiting players,” Harper said.
“There was a time earlier when it was a lot more hit-and-miss than it is now, I’m pleased to say.
“Particularly with Sydney for Costa, Ufuk Talay I would suggest, pound for pound, has the best hit rate when it comes to (signing) foreign players – in a good field. I think the coaches have done really well on this.
“I don’t think, that since Ufuk has been a head coach, he’s got a foreign player wrong. I really don’t. Some have been significantly better than others, but there have been no flops.
“He’s brought in, to the extent that he’s been able, the biggest players within the range of a club’s expenditure, and they’ve all worked. In a tight field, he probably comes out on top – and that bodes well for this decision.
“Then it’s up to Douglas Costa; if he settles well, this could be anything for the fans of Sydney and when Sydney travel away, for various home teams to watch this guy. If he’s doing his thing, it’s going to be unbelievable.”
Talay is targeting Sydney’s next competitive fixture, an AFC Asian Champions League 2 clash with Hong Kong’s Eastern on September 19, as the first opportunity to blood Costa into a Sky Blues line-up.
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